Hands-on with the Sony Cyber-shot RX100 V

Sony Cyber-shot RX100 V

Not surprisingly, the Mark V looks a whole lot like its predecessors. It continues to use a 1"-type 20.1MP sensor (more on that in a minute) and 24-70mm equiv. F1.8-2.8 lens, and sports the same pop-up viewfinder with 2.36M-dot OLED panel as the RX100 III and IV. The big improvements are all under the hood.

Comments

I like it that Sony doesn't bother changing the body, since it doesn't need it, just gives us improved performance. I guess the touch screen will come in version VI. What I'd really like them to work on is making a histogram that doesn't vanish when you change exposure comp. and allowing use of the self timer with bracketing.

"... and sports the same pop-up viewfinder with 2.36M-dot OLED panel as the RX100 III and IV"Sorry DPR, but the Mark III doesn't have had a 2.36M dot EVF, only the Mk. IV, RX100 III EVF was only 1.44M. It's a typo i'd guess.

CIPA testing methodology should be appended or revised to make it less dependent on the flash output power. Perhaps they should test flash off as well as the current "flash every second shot" and report both numbers?

I have the IV and don't get these "improvements". Sony fiddled around in areas in which the V predecessors are no slouches. Better ergonomics, touch screen, longer zoom range (24-90), longer lasting battery, slightly larger sensor would really have made sense.

The most significant upgrade is the phase detection, since it will eliminate (important in video) focus hunting. Aside from that sony just want that there is always a "brand new" camera in the series, so no one will say "i will not buy a RX100 because it's two years old" :)

I really don't get all these minor upgrades to make it a bit more pro when all we want is a touch screen... I bet if you put all the rx cameras head to head for IQ, you would barely see a difference ... I'm sure pixel peepers would find things to nit pic...

I agree that it's just a small upgrade. I'd rather want to see a point and shoot with a larger sensor (~1.2" like Lx100, I wonder how great the quality of a 1.2" Sony sensor for the Rx100 would be..), with a touch screen or with more focal length (Nikon Dl, Canon G7x). I also guess that the equivalent aperture diagram won't show a better result than the Rx100 IV/III (that means Nikon DL and Canon G7x have larger apertures at for example 50mm)

The main reason I bought RX 100 III was the size. If you want an LX100 size camera why not buy the LX100. For me the top requirement was size - some thing I could easily slip into my pocket. Once a camera can't easily fit into my jeans pocket the size really does not matter. I would move up to an A6500 range camera.

I don't get why Sony still don't include a touchscreen. I'm sitting writing this message on a very nice touchscreen on a Sony device. It's not like they'd find it in the slightest bit challenging, but especially for video it's so crucial when the manual focus is so bad.

Could also be because the tiny body size can make it really easily to hit the wrong function by accident. I've always been impressed with the RX100's images and tiny size, but never liked the ergonomics, though I do understand everything is a trade-off.

This certainly isn't the reason. Just disable the touchscreen if you're accidentally tapping display while using.

In the current scheme of things with competition being so fierce between mobiles and standalone, it's just incredible there's no touch... What a sad sad waste of otherwise excellent piece of technology.

I would have said on a tiny body the need for a touch display is even more important. With less manual controls and harder to operate controls, it's great to be able to navigate menus with the swipe of a finger.

They obviously did it on Purpose -- because their latest APS-C mirrorless camera deliberately brags about the Touchscreen & how it enhances the product.

I believe that SONY has decided to intentionally cripple this function on the RX 100V, in order to avoid cannibalizing sales, under totally incorrect thinking (the same thing which has led Nikon to not put an articulating screen on the D7200 line, even if its on the D5300 line, etc).

Intentional crippling of important things for irrational justification of differentiation -- despite no cost impact -- is all too common. Camera manufacturers need to just understand that we will pick the FORM FACTOR that we most desire -- but that they should include AS MANY options as possible, in every iteration, as long as there is minimal cost impact, even if there is a default "Off" or "Simple Mode" toggle for complex features to make it easy for "Entry level".

The more advanced features you can turn "On" -- the more sales. Period.

I'm somewhat on the fence towards touchscreen implementation, because it means one more thing that can go wrong with the camera. I really like Canon's implementation on their DSLRs, and I'm glad they finally treated the touchscreen as something that can help professionals with the 5DmkIV. I wasn't terribly fond of Sony, Panasonic and Olympus touchscreen interfaces in comparison. Not terrible by any measure, but I didn't need or want it in my workflow, unlike Canon's.

I'm very much a buttons and dials kind of person, and given that I didn't like how the touchscreen on the D5500 was implemented, I'm perfectly fine with my D750, Sony a6000 and Fuji X30 not having touchscreens.

I don't disagree with your sentiment, and I know for a lot of people, having a touchscreen is make or break. With Canon's touchscreen interface, I did fully integrate it into my workflow before I jumped over to Nikon full frame,

But when playing around with other camera brands, I realized I never really warmed up to the touchscreens, even if I understood why people want them. I still preferred to select the focus point using the directional pad, for example.

But nevertheless, you're right. On a body as tiny as the RX100, a touchscreen would matter to some people, and there's no reason why they can't implement one after being around for 5 generations.

If I lived in Palm Springs, I probably wouldn't care as much about weather-sealing.

There's always upsides and downsides for a given feature that will appeal to some users and not to others. The thing with touchscreens though, is that they can just be disabled if you don't like them, but you can't enable one on a camera that doesn't have one.

And concluded with "Not so good for : Those who want to shoot all day without a battery change"

This is for a camera that gets 10 shots less than the RX100V yet:

"the RX100 V's battery is CIPA-rated to 220 shots compared to the RX100 IV's 280 shots. Most users will of course get much better performance than that in real world use (since the testing makes more use of flash and image review than most photographers)."

So pointing out obvious bias in their assessments is being a troll? I think you may in fact be describing your own behaviour, for that I'd give you 8/10 but seeing you are an RX100 owner and thus a fanboi you get nothing.

Quote this - I wouldn't carry either camera without a spare battery. Just to be safe. I also wouldn't carry my workhorse DSLR's without a spare battery either, even though they each get 1500+ shots per charge easily.

Compounding that - the review of the G5 X lists "poor battery life" in the 'cons' section.

Compounding that - you really wouldn't expect us to report on a large loss of battery life on a new camera model? 280 to 220 shots is a pretty big change.

All of that said - the CIPA ratings are like the EPA ratings for MPG on American cars. I can't change the RX100 V's 220-shot rating, I can only report that it performed way beyond that in real-world testing over the course of a few hours - a result entirely possible with the previous models, but we don't have the resources to authoritatively give details on.

"Quote this - I wouldn't carry either camera without a spare battery. Just to be safe. I also wouldn't carry my workhorse DSLR's without a spare battery either, even though they each get 1500+ shots per charge easily."

I don't think anyone serious about photography would carry any camera without a spare battery but that's not the point being made here is it? the point is that in the context of the GX5 you clearly identify it as a CON... whereas here (not on the RX100IV review which is a totally separate article and not even linked to from within this hands-on) it's mentioned as a fact yes, but one that doesn't really matter that much because those CIPA ratings are not really that reflective of normal real-world usage... well, they seemed to be relevant when you judged the G5X. Why not make the same or similar statement on that article?

Sorry, one more point - 'short battery life' is also listed in the RX100 IV's 'cons' list

That's like those complex contracts that are subject to a separate clause you can find in chapter x section x of a different contractual agreement. You either state the fact that it is poor or sub-par battery life here, in this article of you never said it, simple. You seriously don't expect anyone to read your review of the previous model to cross-reference claims on battery life do you?

"he GX5 you clearly identify it as a CON... whereas here (not on the RX100IV review which is a totally separate article and not even linked to from within this hands-on) it's mentioned as a fact yes, but one that doesn't really matter that much because those CIPA ratings are not really that reflective of normal real-world usage... well, they seemed to be relevant when you judged the G5X. Why not make the same or similar statement on that article?"

The G5 X article is a full review - I've only seen the RX100 V about 10 hours ago. Can't publish anything concrete about my impressions about it under the guise of a full review because that's very irresponsible. Rest assured, if the battery life of the RX100 V turns out to be a 'con' during our time reviewing the camera, it will also be listed as a 'con,' just as it was when we reviewed the G5 X. As for now, we only have the CIPA ratings to go by, and as you'll have hopefully read, we got far beyond that with real world usage.

"You seriously don't expect anyone to read your review of the previous model to cross-reference claims on battery life do you?"

On this site? And for those that are commentators? I absolutely expect that.

For those that aren't regular visitors, I hope to provide some real-world context of what he or she can expect to experience when using a given camera. A battery life of ~ 200 shots (CIPA-rated) usually means you'll need a spare battery if you're a prolific shooter. I have USB power bank for my phone, and for my cameras that will charge from it. For those picking up a camera to augment their smartphone experience - I expect they'll be disappointed by a dead battery while their phone is still going strong.

" I've only seen the RX100 V about 10 hours ago. Can't publish anything concrete about my impressions about it under the guise of a full review because that's very irresponsible."

Then maybe this is something you should share with the rest of the editorial team, it wasn't that long ago when, without even holding or even seeing the camera in the flesh they published this little pearl... I'm sure you'll recall it

Not terribly worried about my objectivity, TBH, for a wide variety of reasons. Selfishly, I was intending my 'get back to work' comment to be facetious regarding my own experience (as opposed to whatever you have interpreted it has having meant), if you did interpret it as so.

The endless, burning desire for brand/purchase validation on these forums never ceases to amaze me. Time is better spent banging your head against the wall than arguing with these individuals - nothing you say will change their mind and everything you say will be twisted to jive with their agenda.

Yes, GlobalGuyUSA. A protective bag at all times. I live in Thailand so moisture protection is a must, at all times (at least for this camera model). Here, mu Fujis keep clickin without any protection at all.

Damian. I had my RX100 fail jusr after warranty period, had it fixed twice after that, and kept failing supposedly because of humidity. Now I don't want to generalize, but after 60 years of photography, this was a first for me.

Right. Idk man. Certainly the heat and humidity not exactly good for electronics. But really tough to say what caused your failure. That's just correlational at best... my g7x still going strong. I don't have aircon, and leave it out all the time... No problems.

Japan is INCREDIBLY humid during Summer Seasons -- so I'm pretty sure that SONY is aware of any possible Humidity issue & wouldn't let it break that easily due to humidity or theyd be shamed in their own country.

Possibly bad luck. Not that I would deny yours broke from humidity. Just seems unlikely that after 5 versions they wouldn't know the right way. Anyway, thats one account of any issue. Has anyone else experienced it?

Apparently yes, from what I could gather in the forums in the years past. I might add that I also had problems with the lens getting stuck in position. I loved that camera, and it helped taking really great pics. But the repeating problems with it made me stay away from all Sony photographic products. Never had such problems with Canon, Nikon, and now, Fuji. Just a question: is the RX 100 really built in Japan?

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